The Call
by charsea
Summary: Stephanie’s waiting for a phone call. Ranger POV


Stephanie isn't nearly as perceptive as one of my men, but on most day's she'd at least notice before I can get this close to h

Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me. (cries)

Summary: Stephanie's waiting for a phone call. Ranger POV

A/N: Thanks for all the awesome reviews to my other story! I hope to write more, even though it'll be kind of sporadic since school is super busy. I wanted to try something different, so here's a cupcake fic from Ranger's POV!

The Call

Stephanie isn't nearly as perceptive as one of my men, but on most day's she'd at least notice before I can get this close to her; an intuition aided by Connie and Lula's pointed stares. Not today though. I've been standing here for twenty-three seconds, watching her watching something, and she hasn't moved an inch.

So I reached out, grabbed both her shoulders, and spun her around. Forced her to look at me.

"Babe," I said coolly, hoping the word could express even a fraction of the concern I felt. She didn't look sick; No feverish flush or unfocused eyes. But she looked tired. Her hair was a mess, and deep purple half-moons had formed under her dulled eyes. She was wearing one of _his _shirts. Red and green flannel, rolled up at the wrists and almost to her knees. And she was wearing the same gray sweatpants as yesterday. "You look like shit."

"Thanks," She replied sarcastically. Apparently insomnia did nothing to soften her bite. She brushed a hunk of the brown nest out of her face. In that hand she clutched her cell phone. The arm fell heavily to her side, as if the phone weighed a hundred pounds.

"Aren't we going after Benjamin Kyle today?" We'd made plans two days ago, so I hadn't thought to remind her. Normally when we do a take-down together she'd show up in all black. A jab at me that I could appreciate, since she looked damn sexy in black.

"Not today," she said. It wasn't with surprise, like she'd forgotten it was today, or with a groaning resolve and the promise to head back to her apartment and get changed. It was with finality; it would have to be some other time, because it could not be today.

"What do you mean not today? Did you have something else planned?" Dressed like that, I added silently in my head. No point in adding fuel to the fire.

She opened her mouth to speak when the cell phone rang. She answered without looking at the screen, and might have sprained a muscle with the force she used to bring the phone to her ear in nanoseconds.

"Hello."

Another nanosecond later, her face fell. Whoever she'd been expecting, it wasn't them. And all of a sudden I knew who she was expecting. Steph took the phone into Vinnie's office and shut the door loudly. I couldn't hear anything; the room was soundproof for reasons I'd rather not contemplate.

"It's Morelli," Connie said, as if there had been any question. Only Morelli could shake her up like this. The bitter, jealous part of me hoped that there had been another argument. Another break-up. Another chance for me to win her over. "He's been undercover for a few weeks but he'd call Stephanie every night. Last night he didn't, so she thought that maybe the operation was finishing up, but Constanza called a few hours later. No ones been able to get in touch with him since Wednesday."

"Oh," I didn't know how to feel. Morelli and I weren't enemies or friends. We were competitors, and sometimes coworkers. But we'd teamed up enough that, upon hearing the news, I was ready to contact the police department and offer whatever assistance Rangeman could provide.

Stephanie stepped out of the office.

"That was Carl," she announced grimly. "No news yet, but she said that no news was good news. He said that if they killed a cop, that that was the kind of thing they'd want to advertise. Whatever that means." Steph rubbed a hand across her face, still tightly gripping the cell phone. She started to cry. "Well shit."

I wrapped my arms around her and let her soak the front of my t-shirt.

"I don't know what to do," she sobbed.

"Shhh," I patted her back awkwardly. "There's nothing you can do. Morelli can take care of himself. It could be anything. I'll call Tank. We'll have a patrol in the area in 20 minutes." She let go immediately, allowing me to give Tank a quick call and explain the situation. It was quiet after I hung up, except for the occasional hiccup from Steph. The phone rang, and everyone stared. She raised it to her ear with a shaking hand.

"Hello?" A pause. All of the sudden her face lit up. Like someone had clicked a switch, and Stephanie was alive again. Even her hair seemed neater. "Joseph Morelli, you better not be planning on coming home soon, cause when you do I'm going to fucking kill you."

There was a long pause, and barely audible on the other end was Morelli's deep murmuring.

"No, I understand," she said. "I was just a little scared I guess. Maybe now I know the way you feel every time I blow up a car." She smiled. "Yeah. Or a house."

Another pause.

"How soon?"

Stephanie was staring right at me, straight into my eyes from wear she was sitting on the couch. And somehow, she didn't see me at all. Part of me was relieved that Morelli was fine, but there was another part whose existence I could no longer deny. A part that felt deflated.

"I'll be waiting." She smiled her brilliant smile. "You'll see."

And finally: "I love you, too."

She melted into the couch after hanging up, the relief so strong it almost put her to sleep. When Lula asked what happened, she brushed her off.

"Joe's fine, but it's a long story. I'm just going to take a nap here, alright?" She couldn't hold out for permission. Seconds later she was snoring lightly, cell phone forgotten on the office floor. I stepped out, and Lula followed.

"You okay?" she asked. I wondered how my feelings had become so obvious, or how Lula had become so perceptive. I said that I was fine.

"Well when you talk to Tank about calling off this whole search thing, send him my way would you?"

I told her that I would.

…The enddd! Reviews make me happy, so you should do that! hehe


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